Dispensing machine

ABSTRACT

A dispensing machine for dispensing items of hot food comprises a freezer compartment for storing items to be dispensed, a heating compartment, a dispensing location, and a transport mechanism for conveying items form the freezer compartment, via the heating compartment, to the dispensing location. The transport mechanism has a flexible transport web to which the items to be dispensed are secured. Driving means advance the web from the freezer compartment to the dispensing location. The web has code markings on it indicating the positions of the food items on the web. A code reader reads the code markings to control the driving means for advancing the web.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a dispensing machine for dispensingitems of hot food, comprising a freezer compartment for storing theitems to be dispensed, a microwave oven, a dispensing location and atransport mechanism for conveying items from the freezer compartment,via the microwave oven, to the dispensing location, the transportmechanism comprising a flexible transport web to which the items to bedispensed are secured and driving means for advancing the web from thefreezer compartment to the dispensing location.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A dispensing machine as described above is known from GB-A-996,039. Inthis machine, an oven that is open from above and below is locatedinside the freezer compartment. The transport mechanism includes a wheelwith a polygonal circumference positioned next to the top of the ovenand allows an item that is to be dispensed to drop under its own weightinto the oven when the wheel is rotated. After the item has been heated,it is severed from the transport web and allowed to fall under its ownweight into the dispensing location.

In the above machine, as in many other known hot food dispensingmachines, items are moving downwards as they leave the freezercompartment, and the aperture by which the items leave the freezercompartment is below the top of the compartment, often in its base. As aresult, each time that the freezer compartment is opened to allow anitem to be dispensed, cold air leaves the freezer compartment and isreplaced by warm air. The warm air brings with it moisture which freezesand causes a build up of frost.

As a result, known machines for dispensing hot food have requiredfrequent defrosting, thereby increasing their maintenance costs andreducing their efficiency.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention therefore seeks to provide a hot food dispensingmachine in which the freezer compartment used for storing the items offood is less prone to the build up of frost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a dispensingmachine for dispensing items of hot food, comprising a freezercompartment for storing the items to be dispensed, a microwave oven, adispensing location and a transport mechanism for conveying items fromthe freezer compartment, via the microwave oven, to the dispensinglocation, the transport mechanism comprising a flexible transport web towhich the items to be dispensed are secured and driving means foradvancing the web from the freezer compartment to the dispensinglocation, characterized in that the microwave oven is located above andoutside the freezer compartment, and the web of the transport mechanismis arranged to pass out of the freezer compartment and into themicrowave oven through an opening in the roof of the freezercompartment, to avoid warm air entering the freezer compartment byconvection.

The heating compartment in GB-A-996,039 is located within the freezercompartment. This is unavoidable in the latter proposal because theitems enter the heating compartment from above and must remain frozenuntil such time as they are to be dispensed. Also, because the top ofthe heating compartment is open, heat is inevitably transferred to thefreezer while an item is being heated. By contrast, in the presentinvention, the microwave oven is disposed entirely outside the freezercompartment. The heat generated does not therefore cause defrosting ofthe freezer compartment. Once the items to be dispensed have left thefreezer compartment a door may close the opening at the roof of thecompartment thereby effectively isolating the freezer compartment fromthe oven and the dispensing location. For this reason no moisture-ladenwarm air can enter the freezer compartment at any subsequent stage inthe heating and dispensing of the item.

The disposition of the freezer compartment at the bottom of the machineis also particularly convenient for the loading of the food items intothe freezer compartment. Also, raising the microwave oven above thefreezer compartment allows the dispensing location to be arranged at amore suitable height for the user in a floor mounted machine.

Conveniently, the microwave oven has an inclined base that is stationaryrelative to the roof of the freezer compartment and a housing that canbe raised from the base to permit items to be introduced into andwithdrawn from the microwave oven. Because the items are beingtransported by a web, inclining the base avoids the need to guide theweb over sharp bends.

It is advantageous for the housing of the microwave oven to bemechanically linked to a door closing the opening in the roof of thefreezer compartment so that the opening of the door and of the microwaveoven are performed in the same operation.

It is preferred for the web to be releasably secured to the items to bedispensed, being for example lightly glued or stapled to the items. Inthis way pulling of the web away from the surface of the items can beused to separate the items from the web at the dispensing locationallowing the web to be wound onto a take-up reel while the items slideunder their own weight to the dispensing location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference tothe accompanying drawing, which is a section through a dispensingmachine embodying the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the drawing, a dispensing machine 10 includes a freezer compartment12 having a base 12a, sides 12b, a loading door 12c and a roof 12d. Anopening 12e in the roof 12d of the freezer compartment can be opened andclosed by a door 12f that is mounted on a housing 14a of a microwaveoven 14. The housing 14a and the door 12f are movable in the directionof the arrow 15 towards and away from an inclined surface 14b that formsthe base of the microwave oven.

The dispensing location 16 of the machine has a chute 16a with a lid16b. The chute 16a is inclined in the opposite direction to the base 14bof the microwave oven 14 and is connected to it by a curved ramp 16c.The ramp 16c is formed with a slot 16d through which a flexible web 22used to transport the items to be dispensed is threaded onto a take-upreel 18.

Within the freezer compartment 12 the items 20 to be dispensed arearranged in boxes 24. All the items within a box are secured to theflexible web 22 that is fan folded into the box 24. The connectionbetween the web and the individual items preferably takes the form of anH-shaped plastics staple that is inserted into holes in the web 22 andthe items 20. Similar staples are often used to attach labels toarticles of clothing. The web 22 carries code markings that are readableby an optical decoder 26 located near the take-up reel 18. These codemarkings, which may be bar codes, can indicate the position of the nextitem on the web 22. This information can be used in controlling themechanism transporting the items through the various stations in themachine to ensure that the microwave oven 14 is not operated when emptyand to ensure that an item has been correctly dispensed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the take-up reel 18 acts as the advancingmechanism. The web 22 is pulled out of the freezer compartment 12,through the microwave oven 14 and over the ramp 16c by a motor drivingthe take-up reel 18. In this case, because the diameter of the roll onthe take-up reel 18 is constantly increasing, one cannot simply rotatethe reel by the same number of turns in each operating cycle. Insteadthe motor driving the take-up reel is controlled in dependence upon theposition information read from the web 22 by the decoder 26.

The proposed construction of the dispensing machine has severaladvantages apart from the simplification of the control of the advancingmechanism. A simple automated process may be used to punch holes in theweb 22 and to place the code markings on the web. This ensures that theposition of every food item 20 is correctly known from reading the codemarkings. The spacing between articles can therefore be varied at willto accommodate items of different sizes within the same machine andusing the same advancing mechanism. Furthermore, if a code marking iscorrectly recognised then it is known that there will be a food item 20in the oven 14 when it is switched on and there will be no risk ofdamaging the oven by operating it while it is empty. Lastly, because theweb 22 must come away from the item before it can be rolled onto thetake-up reel 18, there is no risk of a cycle being completed without theitem of food being dispensed to the machine operator.

The code markings may also contain information to identify the type ofarticle supported on the web 22. Such code markings can allow theheating time in the oven and the sale price to be set appropriately.Because a web 22 will always carry items of the same type, it is notessential to repeat this information for each item and it suffices forsuch markings to be placed on a leader that is used to thread the webthrough the machine 10. Such marking of the webs avoids the need for themachine to be reprogrammed when it is replenished.

Because the take-up reel 18 is used to pull the web 22 through thevarious stations in the machine, the width of the web may be less thanthe width of the food items 20. Typically, a 3 cm strip of plasticisedpaper (spun bonded olefin--as used in the manufacture of untearableenvelopes) may be used regardless of the shape and the weight of thefood items. It would alternatively be possible to use a web 22 widerthan the food items 20, in which case the web 22 may have sprocket holesand be driven by sprockets engaging the holes.

When using a narrow web to support the items to be dispensed, it ispossible for the web to twist under the weight of the food item 20.However, as can be seen from the drawings, the item suspended in thefreezer compartment 12 tends to hang with its center of gravity beneaththe edge of the opening 12e and in this position it lies in the correctorientation to enter the oven 14 the correct way up and when it laterreaches the positions in the oven 14 and on the dispensing chute 16ashown in dotted lines in the drawings it lies the right way up above theweb 22. With certain types of item, such as pizzas, it is vital thatthey should be kept the right way up during cooking and this is achievedin the described embodiment without the need to take any specialmeasures and by relying entirely on gravity to orient the food items 20before they enter the oven 14.

The illustrated machine 10 has two boxes or cartridges 24 arranged onein front of the other when viewed from the direction of the front of themachine. The machine 10 may have several rows of boxes 24 arranged sideby side. The boxes in the different rows may contain different items offood to be dispensed either in the same or a different operating cycle.For example, one item may be a hamburger and the other potato chips thatare dispensed at the same time. Alternatively, the operator may beoffered a choice of a hamburger, a hot dog and cheeseburger to bedispensed in different operating cycles.

The oven 14 is conveniently common a number of rows of boxes 24 in thefreezer compartment 12, this being the less expensive construction butit would alternatively be possible to provide separate ovens 14. Ifitems requiring different heating times are to be dispensed in the sameoperating cycle, it would be possible to interrupt the heating of thefirst item to allow the second item to be introduced at a later timeinto the oven 14.

As shown in the drawing, within a row of boxes 24 the webs 22 areconnected to one another, the tail of one being connected to the leaderof the next. The tail may also carry code markings to indicate that theend of the box has been reached. If the leader of the next box 24 can beconnected to the tail of the previous box ahead of the end of webmarker, the encoder can determine if the end of the web has been reachedor if a fresh box of items has been added to the freezer compartment 12.

The food items are illustrated as being stored in boxes 24 that arearranged one in front of the other in the freezer compartment 12 butthis makes it difficult in practice to load boxes 24 because the emptybox at the back of the freezer compartment 12 must somehow be removed.In a preferred alternative embodiment, the food items are packaged in asleeve open at both ends that can be pulled out after the items havebeen loaded into the freezer compartment 12 leaving only the unboxedfood items in the freezer. With such a construction, fresh food items 20can be added either in front of or beneath items already in the freezer12. In the latter case, a spatula may be provided to raise the items 20already present in the freezer 12 as the fresh items are being addedbeneath them.

The operation of the machine will be clear from the foregoingdescription of its construction. After an operator has selected and paidfor a food item 20, the oven housing 14a is moved in the direction ofthe arrow 15 to open the oven 14 and the freezer compartment 12. The web22 is advanced by turning the take-up reel 18 until the code markings onthe web 22 indicate through the decoder 26 that the food item 20 hasmoved out of the freezer compartment 12 and is now located in the oven14. The housing 14a is then lowered and the oven 14 is operated in orderto heat the food item 20 or items. When the heating is completed, theoven 14 is again opened by raising the housing 14a and the web 22 isadvanced until the item is pulled over the ramp 16c and separated fromthe web 22 at the slot 16d. The heated food item 20 is then collected bythe operator from the chute 16a after the lid 16b has been openedmanually.

It will be clear that various modifications can be made to the describedmachine. For example, the design of the door 12f closing the opening 12ein the roof of the freezer compartment 12 may be modified to include aflap that opens automatically as an item is pulled through the opening.This is advantageous in that the freezer compartment 12 will then not beopened unnecessarily when the oven housing 14a is raised to allow theheated food item to pass out of the oven 14 to the dispensing location16. Also, such a flap will tend to seal around the web when the freezercompartment 12 is closed.

The code markings on the webs may also include other information such asa sell-by date to avoid dispensing stale items or to ensure that itemsare sold in the safest sequence.

I claim:
 1. A dispensing machine for dispensing items of hot food,comprising:a freezer compartment for storing the items to be dispensed,a microwave oven, a dispensing location, and a transport mechanism forconveying items from the freezer compartment, via the microwave oven, tothe dispensing location, the transport mechanism comprising a flexibletransport web to which the items to be dispensed are secured and drivingmeans for advancing the web from the freezer compartment to thedispensing location, wherein the microwave oven is located above andoutside the freezer compartment, and the web of the transport mechanismis arranged to pass out of the freezer compartment and into themicrowave oven through an opening in the roof of the freezercompartment, to avoid warm air entering the freezer compartment byconvection.
 2. A dispensing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein themicrowave over has an inclined base that is stationary relative to theroof of the freezer compartment and a housing that can be raised fromthe base to permit items to be introduced into and withdrawn from themicrowave oven.
 3. A dispensing machine as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe housing of the microwave over is mechanically linked to a doorclosing the opening in the roof of the freezer compartment.
 4. Adispensing machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the web is releasablysecured to the items to be dispensed.
 5. A dispensing machine as claimedin claim 4, wherein the items are secured to the web by means ofplastics H-shaped staples passing though holes in the items and in theweb.
 6. A dispensing machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the housingof the microwave oven is mechanically linked to a door closing theopening in the roof of the freezer compartment.
 7. A dispensing machineas claimed in claim 2, wherein the web is releasably secured to theitems to be dispensed.
 8. A dispensing machine as claimed in claim 3,wherein the web is releasably secured to the items to be dispensed.
 9. Adispensing machine as claimed in claim 6, wherein the web is releasablysecured to the items to be dispensed.